Pre-Zombies and Props At SCC

So Cal Classic

Sunday, July 14, 2013

Bellflower High School -- Ron Vary Stadium

Bellflower, CA

I attended a nice brunch with friends this morning, went home and took a nap, and was refreshed so that I could drive down to Bellflower for the last of this season's drum corps shows in Southern California.  I'm glad that I arrived a little bit early, because all the seats were General Admission, although the ones in the Center Section were priced a little bit higher.  I decided to purchase a ticket for the center section, bought a hamburger for dinner, and sat about 20 rows up, on the right 40-yard line.  Someday I'll come early enough to sit at the top, so that I have a wall in back of me and a back on my seat instead of just a bench.  The stands were a bit dirty from a recent rain, so I sat on my sweatshirt.  It was too hot for me to deal with the blanket.  As I surveyed my surroundings, I saw that there are light poles in front of the stands instead of in back of them.  Those were sure to obstruct any pictures that I wanted to take of the entire field, so that bothered me before the show even started.  Then the child in back of me whined to her mother that she was "starving" so they needed to leave several minutes after they sat down.  Girl didn't notice that her mother was heavily breathing after having to climb up to their seats, and didn't realize she was starving before having to go to their seats?  Luckily for her, I'm not her mom, and they went down to get some grub.

The Star-Spangled Banner was performed by The Watchmen.  They sounded very nice, especially the trumpet section.

The Watchmen then performed their show (in exhibition), entitled "Fire Away".  The solos were done well.  The center snare player conducted while the brass was facing the back stands.

Watchmen W

SO CAL DREAM

Nice guard solos.  The kid in back of me got all excited: "SHE DID THE SPLITS!!!"  Oh, there's "We Will Rock You".  I hadn't heard that in their show yet.  I think I'm the only one that participated, though.  

The Mandarins are already bringing out their huge new screen things.  

BLUE DEVILS C

OMG, that little boy on the color guard is SOOOO cute!  Great job, drums!  "Greased Lightning" was a big hit with the audience, as they clapped along with the music.

You know what's cool?  Girl DCI judges get to wear khaki skirts.

CITY SOUND

Hey, what happened to their modified conga drum things?  Now the marimba players just chant into a single microphone during that part.  Nice euphonium solo during the last song.

Hot for the Soloist

IMPULSE

I like the little leg itch thing that they do before the hippo dance.  I'm sure that it's supposed to be that ballet thing with the little movements, but without pointe shoes, they look like they're scratching their leg with their shoes.  I cheered quietly for Justin before the show.  I'd cheer louder, maybe, if I had actually met him.  I almost forgot to look at my marimba player!  There he is!  Great job, drums!

I'm pretty sure that Justin is the one on the right.

GOLD
Dude dropped his rifle during his solo, so I didn't want to take a picture of his strut later on.  Sorry, dude.  Amps were too loud at the very beginning, but either my ears adjusted or the sound person did that for me.  They need to commit to that tree spirit head thing, because it's half-hearted at this point.  Lines were much better.

Corps holding parasols for color guard

<Intermission>
The Freelancer Alumni Corps played at a standstill in front of the stands.  I didn't stay because I needed to use the facilities.  I'm glad that my seat was still available when I returned.  I would have used my coupon for Pacific Crest merchandise, but their souvenir stand wasn't there.  Maybe they left for the big tour already.

Freelancers play during intermission

SANTA CLARA VANGUARD CADETS
Those drums are RED!  One of the cymbal players is missing.  I like the way they enter the field, following a lone snare.  Pre-show includes high step marching by one side, goose step marching from the other side.  Nice little bit of "Agnus Dei" by the sopranos.

Very Red SCVC Drums

BLUE DEVILS B
What are those things now?  I guess they need to train the kids early to carry big things onto the field in preparation for the A corps.  Those new props did nothing for me.  No tarps.  Are they gone forever, then?  Or will they bring them back at Finals when there's no danger of wet grass?  I don't remember those pink flags.  They use their umbrellas more now.  At the beginning of the show, the guard members are twitchy, like they're pre-zombies.  Nice addition to the "warped" theme, but I still don't get those arched pole things.  The CG uses green circles to cover the bells of the horns during an ensemble portion.

Arches are the new Tarp

MANDARINS
They now have new screen towers in the back.  They start as paper lanterns, then turn to boats, then to an interrogation scene, and then the Golden Gate bridge.  Nice sound, Mandarins!  Oh, the Taiko drums are played during the dragon dance.  Well, that makes sense then.

Interrogation Flags

PACIFIC CREST
They're carrying big purple things onto the field, which took them forever to place in the heart formation.  They don't really need the heart, but maybe they think that more props = higher visual score?  The CG leads now have purple vests.  Beautiful sound, PC!

One of the 2 Hearts on the Field during this PC piece

Encore

Impulse
They played a stand still performance of their show.  I'm pretty sure that the CG was laughing at the marimba players, especially my favorite one, because he had a big grin on his face.

Impulse Encore

Scores

ALL-AGE
1) 67.3  So Cal Dream

WORLD CLASS
(Weird to hear World scores before Open ones, but I guess the Open class is the bigger ticket for this show)
2) 73.8  Mandarins
1) 75.0 Pacific Crest  (way to get that 75, PC!)

OPEN
6) 60.55  Blue Devils C
5) 65.75  City Sound
4) 72.75  Impulse
3) 76.75  Gold
2) 81.50  SCV Cadets
1) 82.60  Blue Devils B

That was fun.  As I was driving away, I saw that Impulse was playing something on the field.  It was their home show, so maybe it was for their families.  I don't know.  I wish they would have announced it.  I would have stayed to see it.

So now I'm in drum corps withdrawal again.  August is far away, you know.